Detroit gets its first white mayor in 40 years

Mike Duggan, the former chief executive of the Detroit Medical Center, handily beat Wayne County sheriff Benny Napoleon on Tuesday night, according to the AP, becoming the city’s first white mayor in roughly 40 years.

Duggan won against Napoleon by a 55% to 45% margin, with 96% of precincts reporting, according to the Detroit Free Press, as of 11 p.m. ET. He had won the primary through write-in votes back in August, winning 45% of the vote.

Now comes the hard part, as the 55-year-old Democrat holds the reins of the recently bankrupt city with an 18.8% unemployment rate. But Duggan will have few powers initially as the city goes through its bankruptcy with a federal judge in charge of the city’s financial overhaul.

Current Mayor Dave Bing announced in May that he won’t seek a second term, criticizing Michigan officials for not giving him enough time to solve the city’s spending problems on his own.

Detroit’s political image has also been tarnished by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who last month was sentenced to 28 years behind bars for extortion, bribery and fraud during his mayorship from 2002 to 2008.

Duggan and Napoleon, who’s also a Democrat, campaigned on promises to revitalize Detroit, bring back jobs and lower the city’s high crime rate. They also said they were against the state intervening in their city’s problems and the hiring of emergency manager Kevyn Orr.